This is the ultimate guide to Kodi 19, the next major update to our favorite media center.
So if you want to learn:
Kodi 19 Addons, Skins & Builds
All of the latest updates announced.
Then this is the guide to check out. Let’s dive in!
October 25th UPDATE: Kodi Matrix 19.3 version was released yesterday. It’s not been much longer since the Kodi 19.2 was released (October 8th, 2021) with bug fixes and added platform support, especially considering the challenges users faced with the Xbox.
February 20th UPDATE: Kodi 19 is now released! The release comes after just one release candidate version came out at the end of January. We recommend that you click here to stop Kodi from updating while addons are not compatible with Python 3.0 yet!
Check out the features below and get Kodi 19 download information.
Kodi 19 Codename
Each version of Kodi comes with a codename to help users identify it.
Kodi 16 was Jarvis. Kodi 17 was Krypton. Kodi 18 was Leia.
The Kodi foundation asked for suggestions on their forums for the Kodi 19 codename, which starts with ‘M’.
A shortlist was put to vote by the developers and the Kodi 19 codename is Matrix.
Kodi 19 Release Date
The release date for Kodi 19 Matrix was on February 19th, 2021.
Kodi 19 came out following over a year of development time that included:
- Nearly 50 individual open source developers contributed code
- About 5,000 commits in over 1,500 pull requests since the first release of 18.x “Leia”
- Over 5,500 changed files, with some 600,000 lines of code added, changed or removed
- Countless hours of dedicated free time conceiving, designing, developing and testing (including all the infrastructure you see around them, including this web site) … and, of course,very little travelling, obviously – that’s not good at the moment!
The Kodi software is well-developed and new major features are harder to recognize and implement. Kodi 18 also runs very well on all operating systems. Because of this, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see another two year development cycle.
Kodi 19 Download
The best way to get the Kodi 19 download is on the official download page.
The Kodi team has always allowed users to test “nightly” versions of its software. These nightly versions often include features that are unfinished and untested and are not recommended for any permanent or main usage. If you don’t know what you are doing, do not try to install the nightly Kodi 19 alpha version.
For those that do want to try out the new Kodi download, you can get more information from the official Kodi nightly release page.
Check out what new Kodi 19 features you can expect to see in the final release.
Kodi 19 Features
So what new features does Kodi 19 have? The beta version release has highlighted a few cool features:
Addons
- Addons MUST be built in Python 3 now
- Kodi will now enforce the origin of installed addons and their dependencies. This has been implemented to prevent third party repositories from overwriting code of unrelated add-ons, which was the cause of numerous error reports in the past.
Video Updates
- Software decoding of the AV1 codec. AV1 is an exciting new open-source and royalty-free video codec optimized for transmission over the internet. It is being tested by Netflix, Google, and a bunch of other big companies. It is 30% more efficient than H.265 and is on track to be the gold standard for video streaming in the future.
- Improved subtitles with dark grey color.
- The ability to provide a subtitle URI
Audio/Music Updates
- Improved handling of multi-disk CD sets
- Additional metadata tags
- New visualization options
- New “Now Playing” visualization added to the Estuary skin
Games
- iOS now supports Bluetooth controllers – good for retro games in Kodi
Related: MIT app inventor creates easy way to create Android games.
Android
- Static HDR10 support for all source types (if supported by the device)
- Dynamic Dolby Vision HDR support for streaming services (if supported by the device)
Other
- Various PVR enhancements
- Default-on switch to provide a password in the web interface
Beta #2 was a bugfix release with no new features. The team has said that beta #2 should be mostly stable and able to run now. If you try it out, make sure to give feedback to Kodi on how things are working!
Wish List
On the Kodi forums, a wish list of features was created for Kodi 19 and the most requested new features were:
- Samsung Smart TV support
- Internal web browser support
- Improved 3D video capabilities
- Improved AirPlay support
- Official integrations with third party applications such as Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu and others
- Improved smart home integration
What features do you want to see in the new version of Kodi? Comment below and let us know!
Kodi 19.3
Kodi Matrix 19.3 resolves most problems on Xbox that users found in Kodi 19.2 and earlier versions. It follows 19.2, which fixed issues with PVR, Windows, and Xbox features. Without further ado, let’s get to the key details of the minor update.
- CelesAtXbox integration to resolve the Xbox version release issue. The Kodi Xbox version had snags due to some platform requirements for 4K and HEVC playback. Kodi claims to have “genuinely got those covered to Microsoft’s satisfaction.”
- Xbox disproved the Kodi 18.9 certificate making it ineffective for new installations. The issue has been fixed in the latest version.
- Atmos audio issue fixed on platforms that support TrueHD support
- Bug fixes for better performances on Airplay
- Controller fix
- Shader issue fix on Retroplayer
- Bug fixes on affected thumbnails for watched episodes
- Improvements in metadata apearing in Linux app stores
Note: On most platforms, the Kodi account will automatically upgrade to Kodi 19.3. However, be sure to backup your data in advance in case of any suspicion. Also, since it is a minor version upgrade, you shouldn’t face any difficulty in getting your hands onto it unless you’re upgrading from Kodi 18 series to 19 series.
Kodi 19 Addons, Skins & Builds
One of the most common questions whenever a new version of Kodi is released is whether or not addons, skins and builds are backwards compatible with previous versions of Kodi.
We will update this section with more information as soon as it is available. However, a lot of the work in the past few versions of Kodi has been to standardized code and dependencies and modules in the back end. This should increase the likelihood of Kodi 18 addons being backwards compatible with Kodi 18 addons.
The biggest change is that addons need to be built using Python 3. This will require some code changes by all addons in order to be compatible. This announcement came back in 2019, so developers have had a lot of time to prepare.
We will update this area with more information soon!
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” Kodi will now enforce the origin of installed addons and their dependencies. This has been implemented to prevent third party repositories from overwriting code of unrelated add-ons, which was the cause of numerous error reports in the past. ”
this corporate butt kiss pos needs to be given an optional override … stat !
Doesn’t add wizard to program list,won’t load add on
Yeah, no addons work for this POS version. They pretty much killed Kodi with this non-functioning version. Back to Leia 18.9 for me. Just need to get rid of the nag to update because I’m never gonna update now.
After I installed 19 it removed most of my addons saying they wouldn’t run under this version!
Have I been scammed?
Will the issues with TvAddons of installing itself (having already installed itself on other repos/addons with or without the consent of of those repos/addons), and then attacking addons like the Crew,in particular, be resolved. In other words will Kodi19 be able to protect itself from TvAddons?
Kodi music player, when stopped after playing an album or folder with a large number of tracks, will continue playing the track where you started playing. It would be much better to continue with the last played track or at least have the choice to.
Example: In an Album or folder with e.g. 50 tracks you start playing track 12. When stopping at track 39, next play will continue with track 12 instead of track 50.
I have folders with a much bigger number of tracks. With Kodi’s behavior you always listen to the same tracks. Even random play continues with the first played track.
Ultimate Guide? WTF. Just some speculation and the link to the KODI nightlies. Facepalm!
Kodi 19 should provide HDR Passthrough especially in Windows
i tried the alpha kodi 19 with kodi no limits 12.5 over the top and it all worked perfectly love you guys and keep up the great work
d-_-b face @ efnet.net